An Omnipowerful God needed to sacrifice himself to himself (but only for a long weekend) in order to avert his own wrath against his own creations who he made in a manner knowing that they weren't going to live up to his standards.

What I'm wondering about is that bit about him being “excommunicated” from his own church. What's the deal with that?

At any rate, that's quite the bitter irony there...

Maybe he either bought into the "god hates" thing and drifted away from the core ideology of abusing the first amendment and the litigious nature of American society into $$$$. Or he admitted to people who truly bought into the "god hates" aspect that suing people was the primary purpose all along.

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An Omnipowerful God needed to sacrifice himself to himself (but only for a long weekend) in order to avert his own wrath against his own creations who he made in a manner knowing that they weren't going to live up to his standards.

WBC is a relatively small operation - like less than 75 members. For such a small organization, they were remarkably successful at communicating their message -- even though the message was loathsome and the complete antithesis of the teachings of their risen savior.

The news media who dutifully covered their every move helped WBC seem like a marginally coherent, nationwide movement, when the reality was far different.

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There is no opinion so absurd that a preacher could not express it.-- Bernie Katz

"When we landed on the moon, that was the point where god should have come up and said 'hello'. Because if you invent some creatures, put them on the blue one and they make it to the grey one, you f**king turn up and say 'well done'."

On the spring equinox, no less, just a week or two after I mentioned on a forum that I occasionally checked Phelps's Wikipedia entry, looking for a dash and the current year after his birth date. I know it never hurts to ask for what you want, but that borders on Xtreme Woo-Woo.

Interestingly, there's a movement afoot to boycott the funeral rather than give WBC a taste of their own medicine. /Me is somewhat conflicted as to which side I support: I know firsthand the power of quiet shield-the-family walls of people, but at the same time I can't deny the anger and hurt that Phelps caused grieving families over the years.

No matter what people do, those wackos will take it as a success. Protest and it proves that everyone else is a hell-bound sinner except them. Ignore them and they get to interpret it as respect for the guy. Like suicide bombers, these people win by losing.

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When all of Cinderella's finery changed back at midnight, why didn't the shoes disappear? What's up with that?

I only had one encounter with Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. It was, of course, at a funeral. The funeral, of course, was for a man in whom the Reverend Phelps discerned either a sympathy for—or simply an insufficient hatred of—homosexuals. And he, of course, managed to turn it into a scene, a mockery of the purpose for which it was intended.

What would be perfect is if all the mourners are flamboyantly dressed gay men. They carry big bouquets and clutch photos of the guy and reverently kiss the lips of the image. And they really mourn, with dramatic weeping, wailing, rending of garments, trying to fling themselves into the grave, the whole nine yards.

If that happened, I might get religion.

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When all of Cinderella's finery changed back at midnight, why didn't the shoes disappear? What's up with that?

As far as I am concerned, Phelps and his church deserve a big "thank you" for their actions. Were it not for their virulent and bitter hatred of homosexuality, a lot of people who might have otherwise never had any reason to confront their prejudices about homosexuals may well have realized just how ugly such biases looked.

I think the best, most humane thing to do would be to put up a monument to him thanking him for his tireless efforts in demonstrating why tolerance is so important. Not that I expect that to happen, and I don't blame the victims of his church's aggression for feeling as they undoubtedly must. But it would be very fitting for Phelps's legacy to be how his efforts ultimately aided the cause of tolerance and decency, by demonstrating the result of not having those.

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Nullus In Verba, aka "Take nobody's word for it!" If you can't show it, then you don't know it.

The reaction of most people to the antics of this group is, "Really? Demonstrating at a dead soldier's funeral, disturbing a family you don't even know in their time of grief. You hate gay people so much that you have to dedicate your life to this hurtful, twisted behavior. This is what your religion is all about?"

They have unified all kinds of people against them-- gays, atheists, military folks, bikers, hippies, comedians, gay atheist military hippie biker comedians. And they have forced other religious groups to take a stand--not a big stand, but at least a "not really Christian" stand.

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When all of Cinderella's finery changed back at midnight, why didn't the shoes disappear? What's up with that?

Most of what I've heard people say is the usual things of, "They're not True™ Christians.", "They're taking the Bible out of context.", "The Bible is a book of love and peace and they're making it out to be about hate." I've heard this by Christians, on news channels (such as and by Rachel Maddow which I found ironic since she's a lesbian), etc.,